Events from the year 1938 in the United States.
Incumbents
Events
January–March
April–June
July–September
- July 3 – The last reunion of the Blue and Gray commemorates the 75th anniversary of the Battle of Gettysburg in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania.
- July 5 – The Non-Intervention Committee reaches an agreement to withdraw all foreign volunteers from the Spanish Civil War. The agreement is respected by most Republican foreign volunteers, notably by those from England and the United States, but is ignored by the governments of Germany and Italy.
- July 18 – Wrong Way Corrigan takes off from New York City, ostensibly heading for California. He lands in Ireland instead.
- August 6 – The Looney Tunes animated short Porky & Daffy is released.
- August 18 – The Thousand Islands Bridge, connecting the United States with Canada, is dedicated by U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt.
- August 31 – Winston Churchill, still believing France and Britain mean to honor their promises to defend Czechoslovakia against Nazi aggression, suggests in a personal note to Neville Chamberlain that His Majesty's Government may want to set up a broad international alliance including the United States (specifically mentioning U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt as possibly receptive to the idea) and the Soviet Union.
- September 1 – Haggar debuts a new pant concept, "Slacks", as the appropriate pant to wear during a man's "Slack Time."
- September 4 – During the ceremony marking the unveiling of a plaque at Pointe de Grave, France celebrating Franco-American friendship, American Ambassador William Bullitt in a speech states, "France and the United States were united in war and peace", leading to much speculation in the press that if war did break out over Czechoslovakia, then the United States would join the war on the Allied side.
- September 9 – U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt disallows the popular interpretation of Bullitt's speech at a press conference at the White House. Roosevelt states it is “100% wrong” the U.S. would join a “stop-Hitler bloc” under any circumstances, and makes it quite clear that in the event of German aggression against Czechoslovakia, the U.S. would remain neutral.
- September 12 – Hitler makes his much-anticipated closing address at Nuremberg, in which he vehemently attacks the Czech people and President Beneš. American news commentator Hans von Kaltenborn begins his famous marathon of broadcast bulletins over the CBS Radio Network with a summation of Hitler's address.
- September 21 – The New England Hurricane of 1938 strikes Long Island and southern New England, killing over 300 along the Rhode Island shoreline and approximately 600 in total.
- September 22 – Olsen and Johnson's musical comedy revue Hellzapoppin' begins its 3-year run on Broadway.
October–December
- October 10 – The Blue Water Bridge opens, connecting Port Huron, Michigan and Sarnia, Ontario.
- October 16 – Winston Churchill, in a broadcast address to the United States, condemns the Munich Agreement as a defeat and calls upon America and western Europe to prepare for armed resistance against Adolf Hitler.
- October 24 – The minimum wage is established by law in the United States.
- October 30 – Orson Welles's radio adaptation of The War of the Worlds (with script by Howard Koch) is broadcast, causing panic in various parts of the United States.
- October 31 – Great Depression: In an effort to try restore investor confidence, the New York Stock Exchange unveils a 15-point program intended to upgrade protection for the investing public.
- November 1 – Horse racing: Seabiscuit defeats War Admiral by four lengths in their famous match race at Pimlico Race Course in Baltimore, Maryland.
- November 10 – On the eve of Armistice Day, Kate Smith sings Irving Berlin's "God Bless America" for the first time on her weekly radio show.
- December – President Franklin Roosevelt agrees to lend $25 million to Chiang Kai-shek, cementing the Sino-American relationship and angering the Japanese government.
Undated
Ongoing
Births
- January 2 – Dana Ulery, computer scientist
- January 4 – Eddie Southern, hurdler
- January 14 – Allen Toussaint, R&B musician, songwriter/composer and record producer (died 2015)
- January 18 – Paul G. Kirk, U.S. Senator from Massachusetts from 2009 to 2010
- February 4 – Donald W. Riegle, Jr., U.S. Senator from Michigan from 1976 to 1995
- March 5 – Lynn Margulis, biologist (died 2011)
- March 7 – David Baltimore, biologist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1975
- April 3 – John Darley, social psychologist
- April 7 – Jerry Brown, Governor of California
- April 13 – Frederic Rzewski, composer
- April 23 – Steve Symms, U.S. Senator from Idaho from 1981 to 1993
- April 25 – Roger Boisjoly, rocket engineer (died 2012)
- May 10 – Henry Fambrough, soul singer
- May 11 – Bruce Langhorne, guitarist (died 2017)
- May 21 – Ross Hagen, American actor, director, screenwriter and producer (d. 2011)
- June 3 – David L. Mills, computer scientist and engineer
- June 7 – Goose Gonsoulin, American football player (died 2014)
- June 16 – Joyce Carol Oates, novelist
- June 24 – Lawrence Block, crime writer
- June 28 – Leon Panetta, 23rd United States Secretary of Defense
- July 20 – Natalie Wood, actress (died 1981)
- July 21 – Janet Reno, United States Attorney General from 1993 to 2001 (died 2016)
- August 15 – Stephen Breyer, Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the U.S. from 1994
- August 20 – Kaneaster Hodges, Jr., U.S. Senator from Arkansas from 1977 to 1979
- August 21 – Kenny Rogers, country singer
- September 6 – Dennis Oppenheim, artist (died 2011)
- September 8 – Sam Nunn, U.S. Senator from Georgia from 1972 to 1997
- October 6 – Peter F. Donnelly, arts patron, vice-chairman of Americans for the Arts (died 2009)
- October 7 – Mary Ann Glendon, academic lawyer and bioethicist
- October 22 – Christopher Lloyd, actor and entrepreneur
- November 12 – Terry "Buzzy" Johnson, American singer-songwriter and music producer (The Flamingos)
- November 16 – Robert Nozick, philosopher (died 2002)
- November 19 – Ted Turner, entrepreneur
- November 24 – Charles Starkweather, spree killer (died 1959)
- December 12 – Connie Francis, American singer, actress
- December 23 – Bob Kahn, Internet pioneer
- December 29 – Jon Voight, actor
- Undated – Bruce Langhorne, folk musician (died 2017)
Deaths
- January 1 – George H. Collin, politician (born 1856)
- January 8 – Johnny Gruelle, cartoonist and children's book author (born 1880)
- February 2 – Frederick William Vanderbilt, railway magnate (born 1856)
- February 7 – Harvey Firestone, tire manufacturer (born 1868)
- February 10 – Richard A. Whiting, composer (born 1890)
- February 17 – T. D. Crittenden, American actor (born 1878)
- February 18 – David King Udall, politician (born 1851)
- March 2 – Ben Harney, composer and pianist (born 1871)
- March 6 – Walt McDougall, cartoonist (born 1858)
- March 13 – Clarence Darrow, attorney (born 1857)
- March 21 – Oscar Apfel, film actor and director (born 1878)
- April 8 – Joe "King" Oliver, jazz cornet player (born 1871)
- April 24 – George Grey Barnard, sculptor (born 1863)
- May 16
- May 22 – William Glackens, realist painter (born 1870)
- May 23 – Frederick Ruple, painter (born 1871)
- May 26 – John Jacob Abel, pharmacologist (born 1857)
- June 13 – Beverly Thomas Galloway, plant pathologist (born 1863)
- June 17 – George E. Barnett, economist (b. 1873)
- June 26 – James Weldon Johnson, author, politician and diplomat (born 1871)
- July 9 – Benjamin N. Cardozo, U.S. Supreme Court Justice (born 1870)
- July 19 – Harvey Clark, actor (born 1885)
- July 21 – Owen Wister, Western fiction writer and historian (born 1860)
- August 1 – Edmund C. Tarbell, impressionist painter (born 1862)
- August 4 – Pearl White, film actress (born 1889)
- August 9 – W. W. Conner, politician (born 1882)
- August 16 – Robert Johnson, blues singer (born 1911)
- September 10 – Andrew Breen, Roman Catholic priest and reverend (born 1863)
- September 15 – Thomas Wolfe, author (born 1900)
- September 19 – Pauline Frederick, stage and film actress (born 1883)
- September 21 – Andrew Arbuckle, actor (born 1887)
- September 28 – Con Conrad, songwriter (born 1891)
- October 3 – Richard Teller Crane II, diplomat (born 1882)
- October 13 – E. C. Segar, comics artist, creator of Popeye (born 1894)
- October 21 – Dorothy Hale, socialite, suicide (born 1905)
- October 27 – Alma Gluck, soprano (born 1884)
- October 28 – Fred Kohler, actor (born 1888)
- October 30 – Robert Woolsey, film comedian (born 1888)
- November 1 – Charles Weeghman, restaurateur and owner of Chicago Cubs (born 1874)
- November 4 – Samuel W. Bryant, admiral (born 1877)
- December 16 – Ed Davis, criminal (born 1900)
- December 20
See also
References
External links
1938 in North America |
---|
Sovereign states |
- Antigua and Barbuda
- Bahamas
- Barbados
- Belize
- Canada
- Costa Rica
- Cuba
- Dominica
- Dominican Republic
- El Salvador
- Grenada
- Guatemala
- Haiti
- Honduras
- Jamaica
- Mexico
- Nicaragua
- Panama
- Saint Kitts and Nevis
- Saint Lucia
- Saint Vincent and the Grenadines
- Trinidad and Tobago
- United States
|
---|
Dependencies and other territories |
- Anguilla
- Aruba
- Bermuda
- Bonaire
- British Virgin Islands
- Cayman Islands
- Curaçao
- Greenland
- Guadeloupe
- Martinique
- Montserrat
- Puerto Rico
- Saint Barthélemy
- Saint Martin
- Saint Pierre and Miquelon
- Saba
- Sint Eustatius
- Sint Maarten
- Turks and Caicos Islands
- United States Virgin Islands
|
---|